


Mojave Blues

by Nova9219



Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 4, Fallout: New Vegas
Genre: Brotherhood of Steel (Fallout), Crossover, F/F, F/M, Flashbacks, Followers of the Apocalypse (Fallout), Hopefully it's actually good this time, I'm restarting a work I started a few years ago, Multiple Antagonists, NCR | New California Republic, POV Multiple, Post-Canon, Two Protagonists
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-29
Updated: 2020-05-29
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:08:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24427021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nova9219/pseuds/Nova9219
Summary: Fate has an odd way of making the right people cross paths. The Courier of New Vegas, the hero of the NCR, vanquisher of Caesar, stands proud in the Mojave she helped shape. Meanwhile, the Sole Survivor of Vault 111, General of the Minutemen, runs from the monster he helped to create, leaving behind his home and his world for a second time. The two crossed paths by luck, but in the city of sin, luck can decide the game.
Relationships: Female Courier/Male Sole Survivor, Probably more to come - Relationship, Veronica Santangelo/Piper Wright
Kudos: 10





	1. The Arrival

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, here's the first part, I hope you give it a chance.

Lena

\------

"Listen, buddy, I know you're pretty confident with that fancy looking pool cue, but I'm getting real sick of wasting my bullets on Freeside thugs,"

The man holding the pool cue clenched his teeth. He thought he recognized the woman standing in front of him. The long black duster she wore with the two-headed bear on the back, the fancy white revolver in her hand with a club engraved on the handle, and an expression that seemed more irritated than scared. This was her, the courier.

"Yeah, I'm just gonna..." he began.

"Hey, kid, drop the cue first," she commanded with a roll of her eyes.

The man dropped the cue to the ground and sprinted down the street, accidentally tripping on a Sunset Sarsaparilla bottle lying on the ground before fumbling back onto his feet and scurrying around the corner. The city of Freeside, if it could be called a city, didn't quite compare to the shining lights and clean streets of Vegas. The inner part of Freeside, where the Kings and the Atomic Wrangler were, had made huge strides in cleaning up and cutting down on violent crime. However outer Freeside was still filled to the brim with trash on the streets, refugees living in poverty, and thieves looking to rob you as soon as you dropped your guard.

_Well, it's nice this one ran away, I'm not looking to add “body burying” to my list of hobbies... again. I need to talk to the King about this though, the endless stream of thieves is getting tired real fast._

The chat with the King, however, would have to wait, because the Courier was already late for her breakfast with Arcade at the Old Mormon Fort. She readjusted the worn-out box of YumYum Deviled Eggs under her arm and made her way to the large wooden gates leading to the Followers' main base. She passed by the sandy brick walls which stood tall despite their placement over 400 years ago, pushing open the large wooden door she entered into the familiar chaos of the Old Mormon Fort. Followers doctors were rushing between the tents, tending to a variety of gunshot wounds, knife slashes, and drug addicts. She scanned across the fort and immediately locked on to the blond doctor in the back with glasses, carefully reading a comic book as if it were one of his medical tomes.

"Arcade!" she shouted over the hubbub of the followers.

"Lena! You're late, I saved you a seat," he shouted back, motioning to the empty chair next to him.

"Yeah, sorry, I got a bit held up. So, how are things?" 

"Same old, they still have me back here looking for some miracle cure."

"I can see you're hard at work as always," she said motioning to the copy of ¡La Fantoma! still sprawled open on the table

"Hey, reading is an important part of my duties. Did you know the Followers started in a library?"

"Ah yes, the revered prose of Hubris Comics, truly a pinnacle of literature."

"For the record, I’m on a break, I’m supposed to be meeting a friend for breakfast"

"Well, it looks like you'll have to settle for me instead."

"Dreadful."

“Well don't act too excited,"

"How could I?"

The two were about to continue their conversation when they heard shouts coming from the front of the fort. Followers cautiously stepped out of their tents to investigate the noise while the guards carefully readied their caravan shotguns. The growing crowd parted in time for Lena to see three figures walking slowly into the fort. Well, two of them were walking, the third was hanging limply between them. He looked like he was probably in his early thirties, just like her. He was wearing a navy blue coat that looked like someone had stolen it from a museum and attached combat armor to it. He had messy brown hair and a slight bit of stubble growing on his face right next to a small line drool that was snaking its way out of his mouth. Lena's eyes wandered a bit further down to the Pip-Boy 3000 wrapped around his wrist.

_So he has one too, I wonder if he's from a vault or if he just found one like me._

The woman on his left also seemed to be in her thirties, she wore a long leather trench coat with a green scarf.

_A leather coat and a scarf? She can't be from around here._

Warm black hair flowed down her head, tucked underneath a red leather cap with a hand-written piece of paper that read "PRESS" on it. The face beneath the hat was lightly dusted with sand and freckles, with two hazel eyes in the center, surrounded by lines of worry. However, Lena's attention was then suddenly drawn to the third figure.

_What the shit? Why is he gray, and where's the other half of his face? Hold that thought, is that a wire poking out of his cheek?_

Lena and Arcade immediately rushed over to help the newcomers.

"Here bring him to this tent," Arcade ordered as he pointed towards one of the open tents on their left.

The two of them dragged their friend toward the open tent and carefully laid him down on the bare cot. Arcade immediately got to work doing a basic examination.

_Ha, it figures that Arcade would jump right into action when the dreamy wasteland stranger gets dragged in._

As he began, Lena stepped toward the two newcomers who were both intently watching Arcade work.

"Hey, Arcade usually works best when he doesn't have three pairs of eyes on him, could we talk outside? I'm Lena by the way."

The two hesitantly follow Lena out of the tent and take a seat in the chairs placed outside. They all wait there for a moment, unsure of where to start.

"Well, one of us has to start. I'm Nick, Nick Valentine, the finest detective on the opposite side of the Mississippi, I haven't scouted out the competition yet over here."

Lena looked back at him for a moment, unsure of how to phrase her next question.

"I'm a synth, I assume that was your next question. Or you had some other reason to stare at me like I was an alien. I'm the result of an ill-advised experiment out east. I'm robotic, but just a tad bit more advanced than the usual Protectron."

"Are you, how do I put this, sentient?"

The woman standing next to him slightly tenses, as if she's had arguments about this before.

"That's the million-dollar question. I like to think I am to some extent, and my friends seem to believe I am. Of course, not everyone is open-minded about it..."

"Yeah, Nicky here is as human as the day he was born... well built. Look, I know it's a bit to wrap your head around, but Nick... he's a good guy and he's a hell of a lot more human than most of the assholes running around here."

_Hm, at least he acts human. I'm gonna have to learn more about him, but I suppose I have to give him a shot._

Lena turned her eyes back to the woman who had yet to introduce herself, she still seemed worried, and not just about her friend in the tent.

"I'm Piper, by the way, I'm, well I guess I was a reporter for a newspaper I made."

"Ah, the Publick Occurrences, the finest newspaper in the Greater Boston Wasteland"

"Oh, can it Nicky."

"What? That wasn't sarcastic..."

"Anyways, you're probably wondering about our friend as well. His name is Edwin, but some of us call him Blue."

"She calls him Blue," Nick interrupts.

"Blue? And you're Piper? Were you two part of a swing band?"

"Well I suggested it, but I only know how to play the oboe, and Blue can't really sing. The record executives weren't exactly clamoring for us... Anyways, Blue can make proper introductions for himself when he wakes up, but there's something we have to talk about first."

Piper and Nick exchange a glance, Piper's bluster and wit seem to melt away. The witty and energetic reporter suddenly looks like she's on the verge of tears. 

"We uh, well I lost someone important to me recently."

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"Not like that! She's not dead! It's just, somebody... _took her_."

She barely manages to spit out the last few words, her cheeks flush as red as her coat as her face is consumed by an unfiltered rage. Then suddenly, the anger on her face warps again into total defeat. She immediately dives her eyes into her hand and rushes to the far side of the tent. Lena starts to walk in her direction, but Nick holds up a single hand.

"I'll talk to Piper in a moment, but we need something from you. Now you certainly don't owe us anything, and I'm not going to ask for the world here, but she... we could use your help."

"Of course, what do you need?

Nick does a slight double-take at her immediate willingness to help. Then he looks into her eyes as if her entire self was written on her face.

"Hmph, you and Edwin might just get along when he wakes up. But anyway, I know how to follow a case, I just need somebody who knows the area, and the people around here."

"Of course, I know the Mojave like the back of my hand. Probably better actually, I don't look at the back of my hand much" holding up the back of her hand as if to prove her point.

"Good, because..." Nick stops to take a brief glance over his shoulder to the far side of the tent "they took her sister."  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Dramatic Fade-To-Black]
> 
> And that's a wrap! 
> 
> I've finally finished writing the first chapter and you've finally finished reading it. Starting these is always the hardest part, I'm not sure what to show yet or where to put it, and suddenly I've spent two hours coming up with a clever title (I'm still working on the clever part, but at least we have a title). Anyways, I have a plan for the overall story and outlines for the next few chapters, so I hope to have the part out sometime this coming week.
> 
> I do really hope you enjoyed it, or at least that it was okay enough for you to give the second chapter a try. If you have any suggestions or reactions or even something completely unrelated to the story, don't hesitate to leave a comment, they're always my favorite part of writing these.


	2. Unconscious Exposition

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While he's unconscious, Edwin remembers the series of events that led to him leaving the Commonwealth in the first place. Events may have followed him to the Mojave...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who read the first chapter and is about to start this one. As a warning, this one does have a slightly darker tone than the last chapter, but I'm fairly proud of how it all came together.

Edwin

The Castle

Six Months Earlier

\----------------

"Sheffield, can I get some more eggs?"

_Who knew crab eggs were this good? And to think, all it took was enough ionizing radiation to kill a cow._

Edwin was sitting at a small table in the newly opened diner just outside the Castle. After a couple of months of working for Edwin, Sheffield approached him with his idea of renovating the Cafe. It was right outside of the Castle's walls, probably within shooting distance of one of the turrets. Edwin was immediately on board. Firstly, it wasn't very expensive, and secondly, he was damn tired of stale irradiated Sugar Bombs every morning. Currently, he was enjoying a large helping of scrambled Mirelurk eggs, along with some razorgrain toast with tarberry jam spread across the top. Over the past few months, the Minutemen settlements had begun to produce a wide variety of foods. On top of that, the provisioner system meant that tarberries from the Slog, razorgrain from Sanctuary, and mirelurk eggs from Spectacle Island could all be transferred to the same diner for breakfasts like this. The Commonwealth was getting to be the place Edwin wanted it to be, but there was one obstacle left in his path.

"Hey, Boss, enjoying the meal?"

Edwin smiled as a bald man in a dirt-stained doctor's coat and sunglasses stepped up next to him. Deacon had been instrumental in helping Edwin to finalize Operation Mordred. It had been three months since the War for the Commonwealth, and three months since Edwin secretly foiled the Brotherhood's plan to wipe out the Railroad. He had to send a coded message over Radio Freedom, so as not to raise suspicions about his involvement, but when he and the Brotherhood soldiers entered the catacombs under the Old North Church, they were empty except for a few centuries-old skeletons.

"Yeah, need to fuel up for the day ahead."

"So why did you need to meet with me? Did you need some moral support before the battle?"

"Surprisingly no, take a seat."

Deacon took a seat across from the General and scanned the room for anybody that might be listening. Upon looking around, it seemed that Sheffield had cleared out the other customers that morning. He also seemed to be the only one working the kitchen for the day, although even he seemed to be locking a few things up. Then he looked back at Edwin to see why he called him there.

"I need you to sit out the fight."

"You're kidding, right? I'm easily your third-best sharpshooter. Okay, maybe fourth, but I won't settle any lower."

"It's not about your skills, I need you somewhere else."

"Why? Is there a second massive battle that I don't know about?"

"I need you in Diamond City, Piper and Nick will be there as well."

"No offense, but I think Piper and Nick can handle themselves."

"Deacon, it's not about that. I've seen them fight, they're fine, but I can't have them dying in the battle. Piper has a sister, who not only needs her more than anything but might be a liability if they try to escape alone. Plus, Nick is someone the Brotherhood is clearly going to target. Curie and Danse might be able to blend in, but anyone could tell that Nick is a synth just by looking at him. If things go bad here, Diamond City is target number one for the Brotherhood. I need someone, like you, to get them the hell out of there if things go bad here."

"Which they won't, we have everything accounted for."

"If they go bad Deacon, and I recognize that's an if, we need contingencies, you know that better than anyone."

"Where should we meet?"

"Huh?"

"If things go bad, we need to meet up, where should we go?"

" _If_ that's the case, you head to the Atom Cats garage, but if I don't get there within two days, you leave without me."

"Edwin..."

"Deacon, I need someone to do this, I'm trusting you."

"For the record, I don't like it, but I'll do it."

"Thank you."

"Of course, I've got your back. Oh, and Edwin..."

"Yeah?"

"I just want you to know..." he pauses for a moment thinking of how to phrase his next words, "No matter what happens today, you changed things around here. The Commonwealth was a shithole before you got here, it had its charms, but it was a pretty shitty hole. Things brightened up around here, because of the work you did, just don't forget that."

"I promise."

With that Deacon stood up from his chair and walked out the door, whistling a slightly tone-deaf _Atom Bomb Baby_ as went. Edwin took one last bite from his toast, realizing that he no longer had the appetite to finish his eggs. He counted out thirty caps from his pouch and left them on the table. Then he stood from his chair and, with a slight nod of appreciation to Sheffield, walked out of the diner for the last time.

**_Two Hours Later..._ **

Edwin carefully tightened the straps on his chest piece. The General's suit that he found in the basement looked like it had been stolen from the Boston Museum of History. Even after the stench of dead guy and wine was washed out with abraxo, Edwin didn't really enjoy wearing it. He found that it made just about every raider looking to make a name for themselves come after him, plus he looked just a bit strange in the five-hundred-year-old duster. However today he chose to wear it, partly because people were going to try to kill him anyway, and partly to give some inspiration to the Minutemen outside. 

_They do seem to have a bit more spirit when I wear these, but Preston is never gonna get me to wear that stupid tricorn hat._

He also looked down at the plasma rifle on the table next in front of him. It was a prototype he helped to develop before the war, during his time as a weapons designer in the army. He had it hidden under the floorboards in his house when the bombs dropped and it was one of the first things he grabbed before he left Sanctuary. He had been testing out a few modifications during his time in the wasteland. He tested out a sniper barrel, an automatic barrel, and even a flamer barrel, but he settled on the splitter for the coming battle. Nothing made the opponents run quite as fast as a plasma shotgun. He picked up the cryogenic grenades he also left on the table and clipped them into his bandolier, before finally picking up his plasma rifle. He started towards the door, stopping only to tighten the two wedding rings wrapped around the fourth finger on his right hand. Then he stepped into the courtyard.

Immediately it was clear that there was an issue. Preston, Ronnie, and the radio operator (who Edwin only just learned was named Dave) were all trying to talk at once into the one ham radio. Then they all went silent as the voice on the other side of the radio crackled back to life. 

"Reporting to the Castle. Country Crossing is currently under attack by a vertibird squad, they've taken out our artillery cannon and are now moving towards our- * _Loud Crash*_ oh fu-"

_Well, that can't be good._

A loud crack came through the radio and the signal dropped, leaving everyone at the Castle in stunned silence. 

"Sounds like they've caught on to the plan general, I'll rally the troops," Ronny tersely said before barking orders to the Minutemen standing nearby. 

"Damn. General, what's the plan?" Preston asked, picking up his laser musket.

"Hm, we have to assume that our old plans have been leaked. Which probably means that the Brotherhood is coming here next. Without County Crossing we don't have enough artillery power to take down the Prydwen, we'll just have to focus on repelling this wave."

_And pray that they don't send the robot._

Almost as soon as Edwin finished his orders, the sounds of vertibird propellers cut through the air. Edwin turned in time to see two of the vertibirds hit by artillery shells, but a whole fleet seems to flood in. 

"Hey! Eddie, we got incomin'!" Cait screamed down from her post. 

"On my way!"

Edwin gripped his rifle for a second more and charged toward the north wall. The sound of the vertibird miniguns whirring up started to fill the air. Just as Edwin started up the stairs he watched bullets rip across the entire northern walkway of the Castle. Edwin watched in horror as one of the guns turned toward Cait and filled her guard post with dozens of bullets. Within a moment, she was on the ground. Edwin turned his focus back towards the courtyard. A power armor squad had managed to breach the front gate. Diving behind a market stall he began firing at the squad.

The Brotherhood soldiers immediately turned their attention to him and started firing back. They moved in a slow formation to where Edwin was hunkered down. 

_Shit, I did not think that part through. Hm, what do I have on me? Oh, this should work._

Edwin grabbed two of the cryogenic grenades that were strapped to his chest and pulled the pins. He threw them at the same time, with both landing nicely at the feet of the Brotherhood team.

"Incoming, get do-"

The knight was cut off by the sudden sound of ice crystallizing around them. Luckily the cold seemed to lock the power armor joints in place, leaving the soldiers completely paralyzed.

_Now I've got you._

He dashed from out of his hiding place and right around the frozen soldiers. Now behind them, he turned his rifle to their now exposed backs. He took a deep breath, focusing on the small yellow cylinders on their backs. He pulled the trigger and plasma raced towards the soldiers. Most of the rays scattered, but a single one hit its target. After just a moment, the small yellow cylinder popped out of soldier's back. Edwin immediately ducked into the nearby doorway. The entire small squad of soldiers was consumed in a small mushroom cloud, which also collapsed off one of the Castle's hallways. 

"Good shooting monsieur!" Curie said while grabbing Edwin's sleeve, "Mac needs your help at the command room."

The two of them ran down the hallway towards the command room, where three Brotherhood soldiers were firing into it. Edwin and Curie immediately opened fire on the three, who weren't expecting an attack from the side. Green and ren beams shot toward the three soldiers. The first took a handful of green rays to the chest, sending them sputtering onto the ground. The second soldier caught a focused laser beam right in her temple, leaving a cylindrical hole in her head. The last soldier turned towards the new threat, only to accidentally leave his cover and receive a bullet from inside the room. 

"Edwin? I hope to God that's you out there."

"It's me, we're coming in."

The two ran into the room to find MacCready laying behind a toppled-over filing cabinet. Upon seeing the two Macready immediately jumped up from behind the cabinet and wrapped the two in a bear hug. 

"Damn, it's good to see you two, and Curie you came back for me!"

"Of course, monsieur, I could never abandon a friend."

The reunion was short-lived, however, as the sound of power armor boots marching down the hallway rang out. Edwin immediately ran back to the doors and swung them shut, flicking the deadbolt on the door shut. Putting his ear to the door he could easily hear over a dozen footsteps outside. 

"Shit, they've got a whole platoon out there. We're going to have to go down into the basement."

"If we go down there they'll just follow us, then we'll just get shot under the Castle as opposed to in it," MacCready pointed out

"Do you have a better plan? Because I'm open to suggestions."

"As a matter of fact I do," MacCready said as he walked over to the large modified minigun mounted on the wall. Tearing it down and checking its magazine he said, "one of us needs to hold them off."

"Bullshit, nobody needs to make that sacrifice."

"No, somebody does. Either one person holds them back and the other two escape through the tunnels or all three of us get shot in the basement."

"Mac... give me the minigun."

"No! Not after everything you did for me... not after Duncan."

"I'm not just going to let you-"

Edwin was cut off by a loud thud against the door, someone seemed to be ramming it, and it wasn't going to hold.

"Here, think fast," MacCready shouted as he tossed a small green object to Edwin, "you don't have time to stop me, just run."

The door crashed open and Brotherhood troops started rushing in. Immediately MacCready started firing the minigun into them. Curie grabbed Edwin's arm again, pulling him towards the stairway down. Edwin allowed himself to be pulled but looked back one last time at MacCready. He fired valiantly into the onslaught, but he was starting to get overwhelmed. There were simply more soldiers and the last thing Edwin saw of him was a laser blast clipping his left shoulder. The two ran through the door at the bottom of the stairs and immediately slammed it behind them, locking this one too. Edwin looked down at what MacCready tossed to him, and he had to stifle a sob as he saw what it was.

"It was his toy soldier, the one he always carried around."

"Oh, my condolences, Monsieur MacCready was a good man."

"Let's get moving."

The two walked through the long cleared out basement of the Castle. It had been looted and cleaned out a couple of months ago when Edwin first came down here with Ronnie Shaw. They walked past the smoldering husk of Sarge, the old Minuteman sentry bot, and into the last room of the basement. Edwin immediately walked over to the terminal and activated the maglocks on the door they just came through. Then he turned around and took an inventory of the room. 

_Bags of cement, not much I can do with those. Cannonballs, I regret lending Hancock my Broadsider. Ah, mini nukes, now we're talking._

Edwin immediately grabbed about ten of the mini nukes from the shelf and started breaking the nose cones off of all of them.

"What are you trying to do sure? You're not thinking of blowing us up, no?"

"Listen, Curie, there are a lot more Brotherhood soldiers out there than we have any chance of fighting, we need a different approach."

"But monsieur, surely the contained mini nuke explosions won't do much down here."

"Yes, the _contained_ mini nuke explosions won't do that much. However, the mini nukes are only contained because they limit the amount of fissionable material in the payload. That way there's a reaction and an explosion, but it doesn't cause a nuclear chain reaction like a larger bomb would. The reaction still won't be as large as a real nuclear bomb, but it should wipe out this whole peninsula, including all of the Brotherhood forces here."

As Edwin talked he worked to pull out the proper materials from the mini nukes, then he looked around the room, as if trying to find the last piece of the puzzle. 

_Aha, there you are._

Edwin stood up and walked over to the terminal near the door. He pulled the cord from the wall and then ripped it out of the back of the computer. He took a combat knife from his belt and immediately cut the rubber insulation away from the copper wiring. Then with his new coil of copper wire, he wrapped the wire around the activation chambers of each mini nuke, before pushing them all together to ensure the reaction went off properly.

"Okay Curie, you're going to have to run ahead now."

"Non! There's no way I'm leaving you down here."

"Listen, Curie, they're gonna get down here soon, you need to go now."

"You can rig a timer or something, no?"

"I don't have a proper igniter, I'm going to have to stay down here and fire at the central nuke, it has to be detonated manually."

"Well then, I suppose I will have to take, you would call them, drastic measures?"

"Curie, what?"

Before he could stop her, Curie turned her laser rifle toward her own leg and fired into her thigh, immediately collapsing to the ground.

"No, Curie, WHAT THE HELL?!"

"I suppose I will have to be the one to stay, monsieur. After all, I can not just walk out of here now."

"But..." Edwin stared at her completely dumbfounded, as tears started to run down his face, "why?"

"When you found me I was, but a robot, no? I was not truly alive, but you helped me. You gave me thoughts and feelings and desires that I was not intended to have. Monsieur, you gave me a life, now allow me to save yours."

Edwin stood there for a moment, only staring at Curie, unsure of what to do next. Then he heard the sound of the door on the other side of the basement splintering open, and heavy metal feet crashing in. 

"Edwin, you must go. If you are to leave before the detonation you can not, dilly dally, as you would put it."

"I... I won't forget this... I won't forget you, Curie. I'll make them pay, all of them."

"Do what you must, but allow yourself to be happy eventually. Mental health is very important for you humans."

"For us humans Curie, for us."

With that, Edwin grabbed his rifle and bolted up the stairs into the armory. It had been cleared out before the fight, all of the weapons being needed for the battle. He slammed his hand down on the large cold button and heard the whine of the large metal door opening. As soon as it was open just a foot, he slid out from underneath it, sprinting across the courtyard. He saw the entire castle strewn with bodies. Strong lied next to half a dozen suits of power armor, the mighty beast having been felled. Edwin ran past another metal suit, only to realize it was Danse. His chestpeice was crumpled in, and half of his face was heavily burnt. Edwin ran past all of them, not allowing himself to think about them yet. Vertibirds still whirred above him and he heard firing inside as the Brotherhood soldiers cleared the last pockets of resistance. He ran right through the wooden doors at the front, down the pathway out of the Castle, and dived right into the cold irradiated water of the Bay. 

Nuclear fire exploded from the Castle, the force pushing Edwin deeper into the water. As he opened his eyes he barely noticed the harsh salty water burning into his eyes, he watched through the murk as the last flame of the Minutemen burned above his head. As he floated there, his mind seemed to wander off, to a poem he read once, at a public library in a whole different world:

_Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright_

_Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,_

_Rage, rage against the dying of the light._

_Do not go gentle into that good night._

_\------------------------------_

Arcade was sitting in a chair across from his patient, again reading his copy of _Ila Fantoma!_ He had determined that because the patient didn't show any signs of head trauma, and he possessed a small needle-sized puncture wound on his neck, he was likely injected with some sort of sedative. After running a quick blood test he found high amounts of Cazador venom mixed with a high dose of Med-X. He then administered an antivenom for the Cazador venom and injected a stimpack to heal any damage to his internal organs. Now he just had to wait for the Med-X to wear off. Just as he started reading another page of his comic book about the legendary Hispanic superhero, he heard a sharp breath in front of him. He looked up immediately and saw the patient start to open his eyes.

"Shit, are you awake?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There we go, that's all out there. The word count kind of got away from me with this one, but it was an important chapter. I am sorry if one of your favorite characters died this chapter, it was a tough decision to make, but it needed to happen to properly set up the events of the story. I did try to write them off as respectfully as I could but feel free to tell me if you have any issue with how I did it. Also again, if you want to comment for any reason feel free, I'd love to hear what all of you think of the story so far.
> 
> Also, if it wasn't clear by now I plan on having a switching POV between Lena and Edwin. Hopefully, this allows both of them to truly shine in their own right as protagonists.
> 
> The poem used was a variation of "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night" by Dylan Thomas. I just pulled out one stanza and moved a few lines around, but I kept the rhyme scheme (the meter is probably a lost cause though). It's a lovely if somewhat somber poem and all credit goes to him for writing it.
> 
> Anyways, that's all. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I hope you return for the next one.


End file.
